Summer happenings

Whoa. It is almost August, this summer has definitely flown by. Oh dear, sweet, summer, how can you escape us so quickly? We always hear ourselves saying that we will plan a trip early this year before it's too late, but somehow the time just slips by so quickly and before we know it, summer is already bidding it's farewell. So we have yet to go on our 'trip' of the year, whatever it may be, but here are some shots of fun everyday things we have been able to fit in this summer...sometimes those are the sweetest anyway.

Most recently was the 24th of July parade:

This was my first time at the SLC 24th of July parade. I've seen my share of the B-town parades through out the years so it was nice to hit the big time Utah parade. The SLC parade is definitely shiner but in the end, I must say that the variance in parades is pretty slim...we still had fun though.

Hyrum enjoyed being with his Aunt Natalie.Yeah! for our crazy family!

Sweet shades dude.

Then later that day we went to Grandmas for sloppy Joe's, and in the evening we went to MIA's (my mom's restaurant) to celebrate my dad's and Peru's B-day.
Then we went to see the liberty park fireworks...
BOY! That was insane.


Picture courtesy of www.deseretnews.com
I'm not just talking about the crowd and traffic to get there. This year, the fireworks were up close and personal. Not just because we have family that reserved awesome spots, but because the fireworks malfunctioned and shot straight at us! No joke. It's in the news. We were right up in the front, and the sparks were right at our feet! Everyone started running and panicking. People screaming in terror like something you would see in a movie. We are all ok, but it was quite a fright to say the least.

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Well the rest of the summer looked a lot like this:

Lots of fun swinging! Hyrum just loves it and sometimes he's lucky enough to have his uncle Jose to join the fun.

Hyrum took his first dip in a swimming pool around the middle of June...He didn't quite know what to think of it...I think to tried to enjoy it but the water was a bit chilly and all the crazy commotion was quite a bit for a little guy to take in.Then he had plenty more time in the pool because at the end of June/beginning of July we took some mom and tot classes from a friend we have in our ward who happens to be a swimming teacher and owns a pool. And guess what?? This tyke is a natural! He did splendid, I'm so happy for him!

I must say that it is a bit nerve racking taking your first born and surround him with so much water , but after these lessons, I'm so glad we did it! We had a great teacher and he learned to go underwater (blow on their faces, and they'll take a breath before going under), go in the water from sitting on the edge, and can almost float on his back. I was so impressed that he was so chill about everything. He loved the water! My little baby shark. :D


We have a bit of earth that we can take care of in front of our condo. This was one the first times I've really had a chance to fix up a patch of dirt that we could call our own. Of course Hyrum helped with the digging and wood chip/dirt tasting (as Jess always reminders me: don't worry every little boy needs to eat dirt) and Jess planted the practical produce--tomatoes and chilies and I planted some flowers. There really is something about playing in dirt and gardening that is just delicious to the soul. So satisfying.


Lots of stroller rides. There is hardly a day that goes by that we don't take in some sun and breeze together.

My brother Jose set up a juice bar at my mom's restaurant. Jungla Juice
It is gooooooood stuff!! You wouldn't believe how gooooooood it is for your system: packed with all real fruit, soy milk, sweetened with 100% juice...YUM
It's been fun helping him come up with ideas together.
(These are my relatives in the picture above.)

A couple weeks ago was our stake lagoon day. Jess wasn't able to come but I still went up with Hyrum. I wasn't up for paying full admission, especially since I had Hyrum with me, so I just went and stopped by for a couple hours at lagoon and did what I could with my entrance pass...So pretty much the train and also saw the Cirque show, so rad...boy those people were hardly human with all their impossible tricks! Fun to see, though I was exhausted by the end, because there wasn't a minute that Hyrum sat still, I was a juggling spectacle myself.

We decided to throw a BBQ much earlier in the year and the day of, we decided that perhaps we should buy a grill so we could have a BBQ that day. So only a couple hours before, we headed to Lowes and found a killer deal on this charcoal grill...well we've been doing BBQ's here and there ever since. Jess is great at manning the grill like a man. No propane tanks or turn dials here.

It's been a groooovy cooooool summer so far! More summer hotttness to come. :D